[caption id="attachment_196" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Ribbon Cutting at Pardee's Orthopedic Center of Excellence"][/caption]
Pardee’s Joint Replacement Center recently celebrated 10 years of providing thorough pre- and post-operative care and a unique “Joint Camp” experience for patients. On Monday, Feb. 1 Pardee celebrated with a Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting, tours and refreshments. Last year more than 500 joint replacement surgeries were performed at Pardee Hospital. Pardee is building on the success of the Joint Center by developing an Orthopedic Center of Excellence. The expansion plans include five new patient rooms, an expanded group physical therapy space and a new salon and massage room. In addition, keeping patient comfort and care in mind, the entire orthopedics unit will undergo an interior renovation. “We celebrated the fact that we have had a successful Joint Center for ten years. We also recently welcomed several orthopedic physicians including a spine surgeon to our medical staff. But just as important, we wanted to celebrate the new journey we are taking to expand, renovate and develop this center into a medical tourism destination for orthopedics,” said Debbie Patrick, development director of Pardee Hospital Foundation. “Pardee consistently benchmarks among the top orthopedics programs in the nation.” Close to one hundred physicians, area executives, government officials, Chamber members and associates attended the celebration. This summer, a large community event is being planned once the renovations and expansion have been completed. For additional information on Pardee’s Orthopedic Center of Excellence go to http://www.pardeewellness.org/. The site features physician bios, video testimonials and ways to give.
-CJP

NBC’s Biggest Loser is Coming to Asheville to showcase Lighten Up 4 Life and the Pound for Pound Challenge. Be part of it!
People in Western North Carolina are transforming their lives through Lighten Up 4 Life . Now you can help others while you reach a healthier weight:
Help Others: Pardee’s Lighten Up 4 Life has joined with MANNA Food Banks to help feed our neighbors who are hungry by joining the Pound for Pound Challenge. It’s fast and easy! Just go to www.pfpchallenge.comand pledge YOUR weight loss. That’s it! For every pound you pledge, General Mills will donate 14 cents to MANNA the regions local food bank through its “Feeding America” program.
BE A STAR: The Biggest Loser is coming to town to do a segment on Lighten Up 4 Life and our Pounds for Pound challenge. They will be filming volunteers at MANNA packing food for the hungry. Join us and help give Biggest Loser a great turnout!
Tuesday February 23rd 1 pmMANNA Food Bank, 623 Swannanoa River Road All welcome! Let’s give Biggest Loser a winning turnout!

[caption id="attachment_170" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Typical industrial composting center"][/caption]
Compost is rich soil that is made from yard and kitchen waste. It is comprised from a mixture of green or nitrogen containing material and brown or carbon containing material. Pardee Hospital Nutrition Services has their food waste sent to Crowell Farms for composting. Composting is inexpensive and easy to do at home. Go to http://www.hendersoncountync.org/solidwaste for more information.
-CJP

Today, I got to hear a seminar called "The Green Side of Printing." Paper is not seen as a very environmentally friendly industry, but I learned differently today. The paper industry has taken giant steps to being green. Since 1990, they have decreased their carbon footprint by using 90% less chemicals and water, 80% less paper waste, 90% less solvents which has led to 95% less damage to the environment. For every tree they cut down, they plant anywhere from 2 - 4 trees to replace it. One paper company even bought part of a Brazilian rain forest that had been destroyed just to replant and restore it. There are more trees today in the US than there was 100 years ago. Even with all these good things the paper companies do, illegal logging and mismanagement of forests are still occurring throughout the world. Each year mainly because of the demand for cheap paper. The US government passed a law in May 2008 that bans the sale or trade of ALL illegally harvested wood and forest products domestic or foreign.
Within the last year we have stepped up our efforts to be enviromentaly friendly here at Pardee. You may have seen our PardeeGreen logo on the website or printed materials. In the majority of our printed pieces, we use a paper that is a 100% recycled and manufacted using biogas energy. This paper is FSC certified, meaning the paper we use can be traced back to the forest where the trees were cut and to know that our paper was not from illegally harvested trees. Their goal is to protect endangered forests and the indigenous people and animals that live in those forests. This is one of our small changes for the enviroment. Next time you see one of our pieces, look for the PardeeGreen and the FSC logos. kj

In our recent past, we have been working diligently on quite a few video projects. We are proud of this work so we put together a YouTube Channel of the work and of our stories. When you are perusing the videos remember that all of the images are images that we took of the local area and of our physicians, employees and supporters. I think that is what I'm most proud of. - R